Teaching Black (and Indigenous) History Beyond February
4 ways to celebrate BIPOC voices in your classroom all year long.
Whole truths cannot be found in a single story.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Black History Month is an important time to intentionally honour the resilience and vitality of the Black community in the face of unfair barriers due to racial inequity.
In a Eurocentric curriculum that has been relatively unchallenged since its birth centuries ago, it is vital to teach students about enslavement, the Civil Rights Movement, and Barack Obama. Yet it is equally important to push past the common narrative, and to build a curriculum that embodies the BIPOC experience as rich and worthy of equal representation, beyond a month with merely 28 days.
#1 — Celebrate BIPOC success as much as trials.
In classrooms, the hardship and cruelty of racial inequality is often the focal point of Black and Indigenous history, which can indicate to students that BIPOC history is one of only despair. For example, enslavement and the residential school systems are highlighted events. While these acts of discrimination should be essential knowledge, it’s important to accentuate and celebrate how Black and Indigenous voices and innovations shape our past, present, and future. As a start, check out these notable stories to inspire your students:
- Khoudia Diop: a Senegalese fashion model and actress.
- Madam C.J. Walker: an entrepreneur, and the first female self-made millionaire in America.
- Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett: an American viral immunologist who was instrumental in the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
- Activist Autumn Peltier: nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2017, 2018 and 2019; and was named chief water commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation.
- Philip Emeagwali: a mathematician who invented a formula to connect multiple computers at once, which led way for the birth of the Internet.
#2 — Weave BIPOC contributors and change-makers into the fabric of your lessons.
In every subject we teach, we can infuse the accomplishments and perspectives of BIPOC developers. When displaying exemplars, include a diverse group of models for students to learn from. Learning about the moon landing and space travel? Include Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, And Mary Jackson. Teaching how to tell time? Talk about Benjamin Banneker who invented the first American clock. Think you know your history? Double check and do your own research! There is likely a hidden figure behind the article in the textbook.
“Eurocentric curriculums teach Black and Indigenous students that their lives and the lives of their ancestors are not worth learning about, while simultaneously teaching White students that they are highly valued in spaces of knowledge and power.” — Lateisha Ugwuegbula, Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness
#3 — Be intentional about representation in your class library.
For every collection of books that your kids are invited to read, ensure equal representation in protagonists. The Guardian states that “a child from an ethnic minority background is far more likely to encounter an animal protagonist when reading a book than a main character sharing their ethnicity.” A diverse library shows children that they belong in stories, and conversely, that there are people around the world who look and live differently than they do.
#4 — Pause to discuss events as they happen.
Events that are charged with racial motivation are particularly traumatizing. It’s important as teachers that we create space for students to ask questions, to work through their feelings, and to support one another. It’s equally as vital to model and build a community of allyship — discrimination has much more leeway when there is a lack of communication, empathy, or understanding among classmates.
I am not a person of colour. I am a teacher who is learning, and trying to follow Adichie’s lead in working against the danger of a single story. As teachers, we are given an inherent position of influence, and therefore a direct responsibility to ensure that every child feels safe, honoured, and connected.
